​"Garbage Bag Suitecase"Shenandoah Chefalo's grassroots solutionscould change the lives of children and the landscape of the country

​​Garbage Bag Suitcase is not only the inspiring and hair-raising story of one woman’s journey to overcome her desolate childhood but it also presents grass-root solutions on how to revamp the broken foster care system. Shenandoah Chefalo not only includes insights into the thoughts and feeling of being a foster child; she offers insights and provides suggestions that can help inspire a foster child to never give up.

Imagine never knowing who your father is and then because of a strange set of circumstances, finding him just months before you are about to graduate from high school. Imagine your mother always leaving you in search of her dreams. Think about being forced to move from house to house and never really having a home of your own. Shenandoah somehow found the courage to never give up and to keep moving forward one day at a time.

​"After spending nearly 20 years as a Law Office Administrator, Shenandoah Chefalo became unsettled by the ever-revolving door of the criminal justice system, and set out to find a way to change it. She attended Coach U and became a certified life coach. Working through that program, Shenandoah began to understand her childhood in a way she never had before.​She began researching, and learned that there are nearly 400,000 children in the foster care system each day in the United States. Out of those children, nearly 61% age out of the system without having a place to live; nearly 50% end up incarcerated within two years of aging out; and almost 80% of people on death row are former foster alumni. These (and other statistics) made Shenandoah realize that she had to do something.

She set out on a mission to tell her story and educate the general public about the grim realities of a life that she had always tried to hide. She believes that some of the grassroots solutions she offers in Garbage Bag Suitcase could change the lives of children and the landscape of the country." by Shenandoah ChefaloBlog | Sign up to receive ​her blog posts​

“Safety and security don’t just happen; they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear.”~ Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa